Sayers' five-for keeps contest even

South Australia 4 for 93 and 182 lead New South Wales 219 (Sayers 5-56, Putland 3-66) by 56 runs Scorecard

South Australia's batsmen handed back to New South Wales the fighting chance they had been given by another fine display from Chadd Sayers on day two of the Sheffield Shield match at the SCG.

Defending a meagre 182 on another overcast day, the Redbacks nipped through the Blues' batting with great success before lunch, and it took a trio of 40s by Trent Copeland, Steve O'Keefe and Gurinder Sandhu to forge a narrow first-innings lead for the hosts. Sayers' five wickets gave him 47 at 18.29 for the season.

However the SA opener Alex Carey was out to Josh Hazlewood second ball of the innings, and another three wickets left NSW in with a strong chance of securing the outright win they need to overtake the Redbacks and be a chance of sneaking into the Shield final.